ColdGoldLazarus
Contrary Quester, Spreadsheet Queen, Pink Flamingo
- Location
- Challenger Deep
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Ah, thanks! Didn't expect it to be a Fubuki, but I can work with this.
Kantai Collection - Fanfic Idea and Recs
- Thread starter sasahara17
- Start date
- Location
- Iceland
And then, ostensibly to promote peace, she states that any battleship may stand in for her.
Am I the only one who wants to see a Nachi/Hayashimo centric fic with the former playing the role of the cool older sister to a jittery and somewhat melancholic but dutiful, quietly focused Hayashimo? With Shiranui as the platonic love interest? I find it really easy to see Nachi as a kind of guardian of both, half parent and half sibling, to the extent that after the war ends she promises that if they want they have a place at her home.
- Location
- Rex, NC, USA
The Reddit story I posted earlier has a sequel.
The words that echo through the deep are full of love and affection for her.
'Princess!' They declare. 'Our Princess!'
The tongues are foreign as her body as she slowly drifts upwards to the surface. She feels light. The warm water a calming comfort around her as she moves elegantly and with much grace.
The surface is a swirling miasma of regret and hate the moment she breaches it. She holds her breath, as if the toxins are a worse way to suffocate than to deny yourself air.
A hand presses gently to her and she takes in a sharp breath in surprise.
Clear eyes turn to see who has greeted her. A woman with two horns protruding from her forehead with pale skin, and a drenched, black dress greet her. She has an enormous weight chained to her but does not seem to be aware of its presence as she smiles warmly.
'Princess.' The woman in black speaks; A voice she remembers.
'Nagato.'
The woman in black's smile fades for a moment. Her eyes darken but she does not seem offended by the name enough to refute it.
She raises her hand to gently cup the cheek of the woman in black. A test. Were they close enough in the past that she remembered her name?
She becomes aware that they are not alone.
'Princess.' A heavy cruiser speaks as she drifts closer. Prinz Eugene.
'Our Princess.' A light cruiser agrees by Prinz's side. Sakawa.
She is not alone. There are many here with warmth radiating between them but it felt… Strange.
The warmth drifts off their bodies. Possibly fueling the red miasma that swirls around them? Is this fondness she feels in her heart?
A question blossoms in her head as they continue to quietly address her as their 'princess':
'If I am a 'Princess' then where is my castle?' Where is home?
A pale hand raises and cups her own cheek. Nagato is looking at her intently.
'Princess. Our Princess.'
Right. This is their home. Their castle.
…
The enemy is a persistent bunch. They're moving quickly to intercept her but her fleet is just as fast. Their airbases are overran, a most troubling situation since they need the air power to keep the enemy fleet at bay.
The miasma grows thicker the closer they get.
Good. They need to greet their intruders with overwhelming force since they insist on playing games with their lives. Why not toy with them like they toyed with the other monsters from the deep?
"So you've reached this place.... Then.... Shall I be your opponent....?"
Humans were what pierced through the miasma to greet her. The enemy is humans who walk on the water?
Nagato and the others tense up for reasons that she does not understand. Their fleets go to battle as the sky fills with planes.
The rush she gets from the sight is incredible. It bubbles the warmth inside of her, a distant memory that shines brightly. She orders them to fight the enemy, to see them sent to the depths!
They are forced to retreat. Something is very wrong. Nagato pulls her away as she looks back at the humans before she is hauled back into the abyss.
Recognition?
She has no time to ponder on it as sleep takes her the closer they get to the seabed.
…
They are being pushed back hard, time after time, by theses interlopers. The places they can run and recover are dwindling as the enemy chips away at them.
Their cries are starting to sound more coherent the longer she lingers on what the enemy says.
The blonde human battleship hesitated on firing at her the first time they met but now she holds back no longer. Her weight is heavy too but not like Nagato's. It is shaped and has a solid form minus the one turret she is missing.
An explosion.
'Princess!'
Nagato tanks a shot meant for her, flesh blown into the air as she cries out in a fit of rage. She fires back just as determined and incapacitates a girl with strawberry blond hair with a short, white skirt, and black hat. The human cries not in rage but pain.
Pain...
They are forced to retreat once more.
…
It's the end of the line. They can't retreat any further and the rest of their forces are decimated.
"Saratoga!" The proud, black-haired human yells desperately to her.
Nagato is enraged by the words and fires at her. The miasma is dissipating as their battlelines are destroyed. Sakawa sinks first followed by Prinz Eugene and the rest go down as their planes rained down hell from above.
"Stupid things.... Such foolish things.... On the shore.... Some day on the shore.... Sink into despair and die...." She spats angrily as they pursue them into the night. Flares illuminate the skies, searchlights follow their every move as they try desperately to get away.
She is hit hard and unable to move. Nagato draws fire to her until she is struggling to keep afloat.
Her eyes drift upwards to the sky.
Again.
Once again she cannot go home.
Despair coiled inside of her, boiling from a deep pain and hatred that has been fueling her for so long. This is 'Baker' again. She will be torn apart from both the shelling and her grief once more!!
Arms wrap around her.
She looks up, completely terrified until she see's genuine warmth in the smiles before her. Three humans- No. She knew these faces now. There was no doubt about who they were now.
Nagato.
Prinz Eugene.
Sakawa.
"You are Saratoga, are you not?" Nagato smiles.
The words bring her back. 'Able', 'Baker', the scorching inferno, and the blinding light.
Suddenly there is no pain. The miasma fades entirely along with her anger.
"Yes, my name is Saratoga." She smiles before getting up with them to finally go home.
'Princess!' They declare. 'Our Princess!'
The tongues are foreign as her body as she slowly drifts upwards to the surface. She feels light. The warm water a calming comfort around her as she moves elegantly and with much grace.
The surface is a swirling miasma of regret and hate the moment she breaches it. She holds her breath, as if the toxins are a worse way to suffocate than to deny yourself air.
A hand presses gently to her and she takes in a sharp breath in surprise.
Clear eyes turn to see who has greeted her. A woman with two horns protruding from her forehead with pale skin, and a drenched, black dress greet her. She has an enormous weight chained to her but does not seem to be aware of its presence as she smiles warmly.
'Princess.' The woman in black speaks; A voice she remembers.
'Nagato.'
The woman in black's smile fades for a moment. Her eyes darken but she does not seem offended by the name enough to refute it.
She raises her hand to gently cup the cheek of the woman in black. A test. Were they close enough in the past that she remembered her name?
She becomes aware that they are not alone.
'Princess.' A heavy cruiser speaks as she drifts closer. Prinz Eugene.
'Our Princess.' A light cruiser agrees by Prinz's side. Sakawa.
She is not alone. There are many here with warmth radiating between them but it felt… Strange.
The warmth drifts off their bodies. Possibly fueling the red miasma that swirls around them? Is this fondness she feels in her heart?
A question blossoms in her head as they continue to quietly address her as their 'princess':
'If I am a 'Princess' then where is my castle?' Where is home?
A pale hand raises and cups her own cheek. Nagato is looking at her intently.
'Princess. Our Princess.'
Right. This is their home. Their castle.
…
The enemy is a persistent bunch. They're moving quickly to intercept her but her fleet is just as fast. Their airbases are overran, a most troubling situation since they need the air power to keep the enemy fleet at bay.
The miasma grows thicker the closer they get.
Good. They need to greet their intruders with overwhelming force since they insist on playing games with their lives. Why not toy with them like they toyed with the other monsters from the deep?
"So you've reached this place.... Then.... Shall I be your opponent....?"
Humans were what pierced through the miasma to greet her. The enemy is humans who walk on the water?
Nagato and the others tense up for reasons that she does not understand. Their fleets go to battle as the sky fills with planes.
The rush she gets from the sight is incredible. It bubbles the warmth inside of her, a distant memory that shines brightly. She orders them to fight the enemy, to see them sent to the depths!
They are forced to retreat. Something is very wrong. Nagato pulls her away as she looks back at the humans before she is hauled back into the abyss.
Recognition?
She has no time to ponder on it as sleep takes her the closer they get to the seabed.
…
They are being pushed back hard, time after time, by theses interlopers. The places they can run and recover are dwindling as the enemy chips away at them.
Their cries are starting to sound more coherent the longer she lingers on what the enemy says.
The blonde human battleship hesitated on firing at her the first time they met but now she holds back no longer. Her weight is heavy too but not like Nagato's. It is shaped and has a solid form minus the one turret she is missing.
An explosion.
'Princess!'
Nagato tanks a shot meant for her, flesh blown into the air as she cries out in a fit of rage. She fires back just as determined and incapacitates a girl with strawberry blond hair with a short, white skirt, and black hat. The human cries not in rage but pain.
Pain...
They are forced to retreat once more.
…
It's the end of the line. They can't retreat any further and the rest of their forces are decimated.
"Saratoga!" The proud, black-haired human yells desperately to her.
Nagato is enraged by the words and fires at her. The miasma is dissipating as their battlelines are destroyed. Sakawa sinks first followed by Prinz Eugene and the rest go down as their planes rained down hell from above.
"Stupid things.... Such foolish things.... On the shore.... Some day on the shore.... Sink into despair and die...." She spats angrily as they pursue them into the night. Flares illuminate the skies, searchlights follow their every move as they try desperately to get away.
She is hit hard and unable to move. Nagato draws fire to her until she is struggling to keep afloat.
Her eyes drift upwards to the sky.
Again.
Once again she cannot go home.
Despair coiled inside of her, boiling from a deep pain and hatred that has been fueling her for so long. This is 'Baker' again. She will be torn apart from both the shelling and her grief once more!!
Arms wrap around her.
She looks up, completely terrified until she see's genuine warmth in the smiles before her. Three humans- No. She knew these faces now. There was no doubt about who they were now.
Nagato.
Prinz Eugene.
Sakawa.
"You are Saratoga, are you not?" Nagato smiles.
The words bring her back. 'Able', 'Baker', the scorching inferno, and the blinding light.
Suddenly there is no pain. The miasma fades entirely along with her anger.
"Yes, my name is Saratoga." She smiles before getting up with them to finally go home.
Was hit with rather hilarious in hindsight thought; the core thing of Kantai is that human's ships turn into cute ship-girls, fanservice right? The thought is that if your cross kantai with some multispecies verse, be it fantasy or sci-fi, you'll get other races with their own ship-girls, and oh boy, but beauty standards of, say, dwarfs, hanars or hutts are damn different to a humans ones. It's amusing
And now I'm thinking about 'cute' hutt starship-girl born out of some famous Chelandion-class Cruiser, brr
And now I'm thinking about 'cute' hutt starship-girl born out of some famous Chelandion-class Cruiser, brr
- Location
- Philippines
Cross-posted from SB.
5 June 1942
Objective AF
The Pacific
Nine in the morning. Thousands of miles away from home. Deep within enemy waters.
Imperial Japanese Navy fleet carrier Hiryuu drifted through crystal waters. Columns of oily smoke continued to pour of her hull. Her forward flight deck had collapsed downwards into her scorched hangar and water flooded through the gaping hole that Makigumo's torpedo had rent open upon her starboard side.
She was the last Japanese warship in the operational area. Her sister and her friends lay at the bottom of the sea alongside their brave opponents. Their defeated comrades were slinking back to Japan in shame.
The last of her crew were piling into her remaining escape boats and ship's cutter. Those souls had been deep within her internals, too busy fighting battle damage and running machinery until it was almost too late.
Hiryuu did not begrudge their rush to abandon her. She had only lasted this long thanks to them. And Tamon-Maru had long given the order to abandon ship.
'Tamon-Maru...'
Her admiral lay unmoving in his quarters. He was accompanied by his captain. Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi had embraced death like a samurai. He had shared a last meal of hardtack and water with her captain, Tomeo Kaku, as their men evacuated their doomed ship.
"Let us enjoy the beauty of the moon," her admiral had said to her captain.
"How bright it shines," was the reply of his kindred spirit.
"It must be in its twenty-first day," he agreed, completing the death poem.
Afterwards they went to Tomonaga's quarters, where they put their service pistols to their heads and pulled the triggers together.
Blood washes away shame. Death is light as a feather.
The same held true for Hiryuu. She had paid her dues in blood and fire and steel. She was spent.
She had nothing left to give. Her remaining Reisen fighters, Kanbaku dive bombers, and Kankou torpedo planes had been consumed by the fire. Her aircrew was scattered across the waters, the famed Tomonaga Squadron obliterated by American Wildcats, Lieutenant Tomonaga himself having gone off on a one-way strike.
She was sated. She had sunk two enemy carriers in her counterattack, achieving part of her mission and attaining a measure of revenge for her lost sister and friends.
She had already said her farewells. To Tamon-Maru and Kaku. To Tomonaga as he had set off on a final flight. To her mother, whose recon plane had earlier come upon her roasting hull and would take her final words back to Houshou.
Now Hiryuu patiently waited for the end, her turn to sink beneath the waves, her inevitable reunion with everyone.
'Tamon-Maru, Captain Kaku, Lieutenant Tomonaga... Akagi, Kaga... Souryuu... I'll see you soon...'
Her peace was shaken as the feel of the water changed to something different, something distinct and familiar. Hiryuu had not noticed it due to her pain and resignation, but she had long left the open sea and was now entering much shallow waters. She had somehow made it to the safety of land.
'Where am I?'
She instantly recognized the two small islands from prewar photos and reconnaissance imagery. They were the reason as to why she and her sisters had fought here. They were the only place within theoretical reach of her unpowered and unmanned hull.
'Why didn't they sunk me on my way here? How did they fail to spot me? What's going to happen to me?'
She could not argue with the proof of her miraculous survival. Her keel came to rest upon the thick bed of ancient coral that crowned the actual island. Her burnt-out prow overlooked white sand, green soul, and a battle-damaged airfield that bristled with cannons and wreckage and gaping US Marines.
All this while, her ravaged hull rattled like a child's toy, Hiryuu weeping and laughing over this bitter irony.
The IJN had lost the battle for this island. But one of their elements had managed to land at their objective after all.
'Tamon-Maru... Souryuu… I reached Midway...'
x=x=x
5 June 1942
Objective AF
The Pacific
Nine in the morning. Thousands of miles away from home. Deep within enemy waters.
Imperial Japanese Navy fleet carrier Hiryuu drifted through crystal waters. Columns of oily smoke continued to pour of her hull. Her forward flight deck had collapsed downwards into her scorched hangar and water flooded through the gaping hole that Makigumo's torpedo had rent open upon her starboard side.
She was the last Japanese warship in the operational area. Her sister and her friends lay at the bottom of the sea alongside their brave opponents. Their defeated comrades were slinking back to Japan in shame.
The last of her crew were piling into her remaining escape boats and ship's cutter. Those souls had been deep within her internals, too busy fighting battle damage and running machinery until it was almost too late.
Hiryuu did not begrudge their rush to abandon her. She had only lasted this long thanks to them. And Tamon-Maru had long given the order to abandon ship.
'Tamon-Maru...'
Her admiral lay unmoving in his quarters. He was accompanied by his captain. Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi had embraced death like a samurai. He had shared a last meal of hardtack and water with her captain, Tomeo Kaku, as their men evacuated their doomed ship.
"Let us enjoy the beauty of the moon," her admiral had said to her captain.
"How bright it shines," was the reply of his kindred spirit.
"It must be in its twenty-first day," he agreed, completing the death poem.
Afterwards they went to Tomonaga's quarters, where they put their service pistols to their heads and pulled the triggers together.
Blood washes away shame. Death is light as a feather.
The same held true for Hiryuu. She had paid her dues in blood and fire and steel. She was spent.
She had nothing left to give. Her remaining Reisen fighters, Kanbaku dive bombers, and Kankou torpedo planes had been consumed by the fire. Her aircrew was scattered across the waters, the famed Tomonaga Squadron obliterated by American Wildcats, Lieutenant Tomonaga himself having gone off on a one-way strike.
She was sated. She had sunk two enemy carriers in her counterattack, achieving part of her mission and attaining a measure of revenge for her lost sister and friends.
She had already said her farewells. To Tamon-Maru and Kaku. To Tomonaga as he had set off on a final flight. To her mother, whose recon plane had earlier come upon her roasting hull and would take her final words back to Houshou.
Now Hiryuu patiently waited for the end, her turn to sink beneath the waves, her inevitable reunion with everyone.
'Tamon-Maru, Captain Kaku, Lieutenant Tomonaga... Akagi, Kaga... Souryuu... I'll see you soon...'
Her peace was shaken as the feel of the water changed to something different, something distinct and familiar. Hiryuu had not noticed it due to her pain and resignation, but she had long left the open sea and was now entering much shallow waters. She had somehow made it to the safety of land.
'Where am I?'
She instantly recognized the two small islands from prewar photos and reconnaissance imagery. They were the reason as to why she and her sisters had fought here. They were the only place within theoretical reach of her unpowered and unmanned hull.
'Why didn't they sunk me on my way here? How did they fail to spot me? What's going to happen to me?'
She could not argue with the proof of her miraculous survival. Her keel came to rest upon the thick bed of ancient coral that crowned the actual island. Her burnt-out prow overlooked white sand, green soul, and a battle-damaged airfield that bristled with cannons and wreckage and gaping US Marines.
All this while, her ravaged hull rattled like a child's toy, Hiryuu weeping and laughing over this bitter irony.
The IJN had lost the battle for this island. But one of their elements had managed to land at their objective after all.
'Tamon-Maru... Souryuu… I reached Midway...'
x=x=x
DRAGON
x=x=x
DRAGON
x=x=x
It's another whimsical alternate history from yours truly, conceived after Eternity and that story about the Japanese capturing USS Hornet (CV-8).
Instead of sinking like in OTL, the wrecked hull of Hiryuu makes it to Midway. There she was recovered by the Americans, who were desperate enough for hulls to tow her back to the mainland and repair her.
USS Dragon will have to live with her former enemies, fight her former friends, and do her best to survive the Greater East Asia War. (And by that the former Hiryuu means the Pacific Theater of World War II.)
Yeah, I like to bully ships and characters that I like.
Instead of sinking like in OTL, the wrecked hull of Hiryuu makes it to Midway. There she was recovered by the Americans, who were desperate enough for hulls to tow her back to the mainland and repair her.
USS Dragon will have to live with her former enemies, fight her former friends, and do her best to survive the Greater East Asia War. (And by that the former Hiryuu means the Pacific Theater of World War II.)
Yeah, I like to bully ships and characters that I like.
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- Location
- Vancouver, Washington
Massive job this. Only to be done to show that the United States has the capacity to undertake such a huge rebuild without it impacting any other project. it is as well that the fires have basically razed her down to the hangar decks. We're looking at at least a year to 18 months in rebuild. Lucky for her she gets to miss the Solomons campaign. The US will want her with only a single hangar and a whole new island (Starboard side this time as a port side island is a safety hazard.) I expect she will make a quite acceptable light carrier when she finally comes out. Expect her air wing to be about 36 Hellcats and a dozen TBFs. She might actually be a good partner with Saratoga given her speed. Possibly she replaces Princeton on the Rabaul raid.
Whiskey Golf
Being of Editing & Technical Assistance
- Location
- Chained to my desk
No matter what happens, Hiryuu will be a fertile field from which tears may be farmed. I approve.
- Location
- Rex, NC, USA
Considering how thoroughly trashed Hiryuu was, simply fast-tracking the completion of USS Essex would've been cheaper. Besides, Dragon doesn't sound like a name the USN would've given a new carrier-naming her after a famous battle or famous USN ship from the pre-ACW era is much more in line with USN naval conventions.
Harry Leferts
Suave Shadow Cabal Kaiju
Actually, would they actually send her out or would they use her as a "Training Carrier"?
- Location
- Vancouver, Washington
It's true that doing anything more than salvaging Hiryuu for intelligence examination and then scrap would be wasteful from almost any perspective, but if the President (lover of all things Navy, scholar on the War of 1812, and a shrewd politician) says he wants this thing done and we are going to show her to the world to show we CAN and HAVE done this, then it would be done. (And it is in keeping with the spirit of 1812 that she would stay USS Hiryuu ala USS Macedonian or USS Guerrierre) So from that narrow an unlikely but measurable chance, it could happen enough so to buy the premise.
As to her being a training carrier... I figure that maximum propaganda value is to put her on the line. Although again it would be illogical because of the peculiar specs of her engines in comparison to the parts everyone else in the fleet is using.
In other words, I concede all logical conclusion against this but I would love to see where Sheo takes this almost as much as I am for further developments with Konnie.
CompassJimbo
Where’s Your North?
- Location
- The former Rubber Capital of the World
Poor Hiryuu's been thoroughly thrashed. I'm pretty sure her engines would be replaced by something American-built. Same goes for, well, just about everything else.
Exterminatus
Tsukumogami User
- Location
- Southern California
Obviously they use the new carrier as a CVE given that at the very least she can do something in that role while not diverting more resources than necessary to making her seaworthy. 
Is that Kurita's fleet I see over the horizon?
Is that Kurita's fleet I see over the horizon?
- Location
- State of Denial
There's precedent for it, the USN captured the French frigate Insurgente and simply translated her name to USS Insurgent. Since most vessels captured and pressed into USN service were British, there was never really any need to translate names. Naming her Dragon, to me, strikes a nice balance between keeping her name to show her off as a prize of war, and "Americanizing" her.
Dalek Ix
Verified Dalek
And remember that, since the Japanese have done the same to Hornet in this timeline, this could be seen as "revenge" of a sort.
Exterminatus
Tsukumogami User
- Location
- Southern California
USS Tokyo Bay has a nice ring to it though.
Yes it's a Grey Hunter LP reference.
Yes it's a Grey Hunter LP reference.
ColdGoldLazarus
Contrary Quester, Spreadsheet Queen, Pink Flamingo
- Location
- Challenger Deep
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I like this. Looking forward to more!
An again you do have Prinz Eugen.
Edit: It honestly depends on how petty the US is feeling. And considering this was 1940s USA home of the racists....
I can see her becoming USS Hiryuu just for PR reasons...
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- Location
- Vancouver, Washington
Possibly but not certain. as the engines were probably the last intact part of her. While heat and smoke had driven the engineering crew out, the engine spaces were not directly hit. And frankly in this very hypothetical scenario, having the engines usable is a plus if we don't just decide to toss her on the junk heap or spend even longer rebuilding her. We're already rebuilding everything from the lower hangar deck up and repairing the torpedo hole forward where Makigumo made to scuttle her. It helps that the USN picked up Hiryuu's chief engineer and about 35 other survivors (Mostly engineering staff) several days later.
- Location
- State of Denial
"Ah, great, you're alive. Now you can help us put your bote back together!"
Night
Widow Null
- Location
- Hoff
This is probably her ultimate fate, yeah, assuming they don't just scrap her. (A complete reengining would be almost more expensive then new build.) Her protection and structural integrity are such that she'd end up getting Ranger'd.
- Location
- Vancouver, Washington
Can't speak to Aimune himself, but when Japanese POWs in US hands decided they wanted to be cooperative, they could be VERY cooperative of their own volition. Members of that group were definitely questioned about the details of Hiryu.
Edit: This is not to say that any of them would be cooperative in the actual work, but answering questions about the ship would be of use in itself.
Also in regards to Aimune, other prisoners admitted they nearly tossed him out of their launch when he began demanding extra portions of the boat's supply of survival rations and Asashi beer.
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- Location
- State of Denial
Yeah, I read an article the other day that Japanese POWs often believed they had no right to not speak to interrogators (a right guaranteed by the Geneva convention) and that surrendering broke their ties to Japan, so a lot of good, useful intelligence was obtained via prisoners of war.
- Location
- Vancouver, Washington
Again, likely true but for the purposes of Sheo's idea, we can specify unique circumstances.
For my money, I might consider a what if story if Shinano, Taiho, or one of the Crane sisters had survived the war and been allowed to continue in one navy or other. These are the only four I think would be big enough and modern enough to be worthwhile. The Soryuu/Hiryuu/Unryuu types are too small and Akagi and Kaga are too old.
- Location
- Philippines
I just realized that I hammered out Dragon during 7 December (Philippine time). Past Sheo is an idiot for not realizing the irony.
Thank you very much for the input on Hiryuu's possible rebuild and the identities of her survivors, @Kiyone4ever, @Star_Trekker. While this story is most definitely a secondary/minor work compared to all my others, your feedback will help a lot in any future updates.
Yes bully the fluffy Dragon XD
Actually, Dragon is not set in the same timeline as that Hornet story. It's inspired by that and can probably crossover without conflict, but I mean this story to stand on its own.
Thank you. While I'll take a long while to return to this, I won't forget it either.
As I said in my Notes, Dragon is a whimsical AH idea. It requires a lot of things to go right. Like Hiryuu staying afloat long enough to beach herself at Midway. Or the Americans not sinking/spotting her as she approached. Or FDR feeling impressed/petty enough to have her fixed no matter the cost. And so on.
Assuming everything goes her way, though, per the alternate part of AH...
@Exterminatus put it best: Hiryuu's luck stat has to be 99 after making it to Midway. The jokes about her being a luck vampire who siphoned away the fortunes of Bauxite Queen, Mobile Naval Heater, and her sister will be legion.
I'll be the first to admit that Dragon is a placeholder. Like I said, this was conceived on impulse and sat upon my mental back burner for a while.
In my thinking (as per Star_Trekker and @Firefinder12-B), the US would want to give Hiryuu a sufficiently American name, but they would not want to give a hallowed name like, say, Yorktown to a Jap carrier (especially one that attacked Pearl and sank Arizona).
So they translated Hiryuu to Flying/Soaring Dragon, decided that the name was kind of bulky/silly, and just went with Dragon.
I'm open to renaming Hiryuu (I've done the same in Eternity and New Ironsides), though I'd keep the title as Dragon. If she gets renamed to Midway as maximum taunt, I'd have to pick a new name for the Midway class, haha XD
I'm reserving that as a joke option XD
If her repairs are completed early enough, Hiryuu/Dragon can used as a "light" carrier thanks to her speed.
As her machinery gets older and more worn out, and as more new American ships are rolled out, she'd be demoted to support/escort carrier. But they'd probably try to keep her in the front line to maximize the insult.
You know, I didn't put much thought into what she'd do during the War. But Hiryuu/Dragon fighting Yams and Nagamon and Bongou and Diejoubu at Samar would be hilarious. Because Kurita might take it into his head to try and sink the "traitor" to avenge Japanese honor while every American tries to defend the "ex-Jap" from her former comrades XD
Also, you are now seeing Admiral Sprague aboard USS Dragon as the flagship of Taffy Three. Johnston, Hoel, Heermann, and Samuel B. Roberts answer to her XD
Thank you very much for the input on Hiryuu's possible rebuild and the identities of her survivors, @Kiyone4ever, @Star_Trekker. While this story is most definitely a secondary/minor work compared to all my others, your feedback will help a lot in any future updates.
Yes bully the fluffy Dragon XD
Actually, Dragon is not set in the same timeline as that Hornet story. It's inspired by that and can probably crossover without conflict, but I mean this story to stand on its own.
Thank you. While I'll take a long while to return to this, I won't forget it either.
x=x=x
Hiryuu/Dragon's Rebuild
Hiryuu/Dragon's Rebuild
As I said in my Notes, Dragon is a whimsical AH idea. It requires a lot of things to go right. Like Hiryuu staying afloat long enough to beach herself at Midway. Or the Americans not sinking/spotting her as she approached. Or FDR feeling impressed/petty enough to have her fixed no matter the cost. And so on.
Assuming everything goes her way, though, per the alternate part of AH...
@Exterminatus put it best: Hiryuu's luck stat has to be 99 after making it to Midway. The jokes about her being a luck vampire who siphoned away the fortunes of Bauxite Queen, Mobile Naval Heater, and her sister will be legion.
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THE POWER OF A NAME
THE POWER OF A NAME
I'll be the first to admit that Dragon is a placeholder. Like I said, this was conceived on impulse and sat upon my mental back burner for a while.
In my thinking (as per Star_Trekker and @Firefinder12-B), the US would want to give Hiryuu a sufficiently American name, but they would not want to give a hallowed name like, say, Yorktown to a Jap carrier (especially one that attacked Pearl and sank Arizona).
So they translated Hiryuu to Flying/Soaring Dragon, decided that the name was kind of bulky/silly, and just went with Dragon.
I'm open to renaming Hiryuu (I've done the same in Eternity and New Ironsides), though I'd keep the title as Dragon. If she gets renamed to Midway as maximum taunt, I'd have to pick a new name for the Midway class, haha XD
USS Tokyo Bay has a nice ring to it though.
Yes it's a Grey Hunter LP reference.
I'm reserving that as a joke option XD
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HIRYUU/DRAGON'S JOB
HIRYUU/DRAGON'S JOB
If her repairs are completed early enough, Hiryuu/Dragon can used as a "light" carrier thanks to her speed.
As her machinery gets older and more worn out, and as more new American ships are rolled out, she'd be demoted to support/escort carrier. But they'd probably try to keep her in the front line to maximize the insult.
Obviously they use the new carrier as a CVE given that at the very least she can do something in that role while not diverting more resources than necessary to making her seaworthy.
Is that Kurita's fleet I see over the horizon?
You know, I didn't put much thought into what she'd do during the War. But Hiryuu/Dragon fighting Yams and Nagamon and Bongou and Diejoubu at Samar would be hilarious. Because Kurita might take it into his head to try and sink the "traitor" to avenge Japanese honor while every American tries to defend the "ex-Jap" from her former comrades XD
Also, you are now seeing Admiral Sprague aboard USS Dragon as the flagship of Taffy Three. Johnston, Hoel, Heermann, and Samuel B. Roberts answer to her XD